Totally Random Trivia: 2022

5: Pakistan

1. Metropolis

2. Hummingbird

4. He can run, but he can't hide.

Answers to Monday, December 5, 2022
1. What fictional city—which was originally modeled on Toronto when it first appeared in 1938—gets its name from the Greek for “Mother City”?

Metropolis

2. What is the only bird that can fly backwards as well as forwards?

Hummingbirds

3. Boris Yeltsin traveled to the U.S. to meet with Bill Clinton in 1994. According to Clinton, the first thing Yeltsin said upon his arrival was, “Do you think BLANK did it?” Fill in that blank.

O.J. (Simpson)

4. In 1941, legendary boxer Joe Louis faced a younger, smaller boxer named Billy Conn. When reporters told Louis that Conn was faster than he was, Louis famously responded that there was something his opponent could do, and there was something he couldn’t do. What were the things that Conn could and couldn’t do?

Run, hide

5. Mount Everest, the tallest mountain in the world, is on the border of China and Nepal. The second-tallest mountain, K2, is located on the border of China and what other nation?

Pakistan

Questions for
Tuesday, December 6, 2022

Five questions to wake up your noodle. Answers in tomorrow’s email.

1. Jill Scott, Cree Summer, Alexandra Shipp, and Halle Berry have all played versions of what Marvel Comics hero?

2. Records of Viking expeditions have been found all throughout Scandinavia, typically carved into large boulders. What are these boulders called?

3. The most populous city in North America is no longer New York City. What is it?

4. Samus Aran was one of the first playable female heroes in a video game. In what video game did she appear?

5. Horses, pigs, tapirs, rhinos, hippos, and elephants were all included under an umbrella term coming from the Greek for “thick-skinned,” but it is now considered obsolete due to the fact that those animals aren’t related to each other. Name that term!

1: Storm

3: Mexico City

2 - Runestone ??

5. Pachyderm

2. Not a Super Bowl trophy

Answers to Tuesday, December 6, 2022
1. Jill Scott, Cree Summer, Alexandra Shipp, and Halle Berry have all played versions of what Marvel Comics hero?

Storm

2. Records of Viking expeditions have been found all throughout Scandinavia, typically carved into large boulders. What are these boulders called?

Runestones

3. The most populous city in North America is no longer New York City. What is it?

Mexico City

4. Samus Aran was one of the first playable female heroes in a video game. In what video game did she appear?

“Metroid”

5. Horses, pigs, tapirs, rhinos, hippos, and elephants were all included under an umbrella term coming from the Greek for “thick-skinned,” but it is now considered obsolete due to the fact that those animals aren’t related to each other. Name that term!

Pachyderm

Questions for
Wednesday, December 7, 2022

Five questions to wake up your noodle. Answers in tomorrow’s email. 

1. Din Djarin, Boba Fett, and Jango Fett are a few of the “Star Wars” characters who follow a creed that originated on what fictional desert planet?

2. What fictional witch, frequently depicted as an antagonist of King Arthur, also appears as a villain in both Marvel and DC comics?

3. In 2002, yodeler Wylie Gustafson settled a multi-million dollar lawsuit with what company, after they incorporated one of his yodels in their national brand campaign without his permission?

4. Cash Money Records was founded in the 1990s in Lil Wayne’s hometown. Name that Southern city!

5. Google’s motto used to be “Don’t be evil.” They changed it in 2015, and now it’s the same as the title of a 1989 movie that was nominated for “Best Original Screenplay.” What is Google’s current motto?

1: Mandalore

3 - Swiss Miss ??

It’s part of Nestle, I believe.

I’m thinking Yahoo.  Didn’t that have kind of a yodeler?

2. Morgan le Fay

4. New Orleans

3. Ricola? 

Posted by: @zwak

↑

I’m thinking Yahoo.  Didn’t that have kind of a yodeler?

Just looked it up. It's "Yahoo." Damn, I thought I had it. Ricola had a great yodel. 

Posted by: @the-rube

↑

Posted by: @zwak

↑

I’m thinking Yahoo.  Didn’t that have kind of a yodeler?

 

Just looked it up. It's "Yahoo." Damn, I thought I had it. Ricola had a great yodel. 

 

 

Answers to Wednesday, December 7, 2022

1. Din Djarin, Boba Fett, and Jango Fett are a few of the “Star Wars” characters who follow a creed that originated on what fictional desert planet?

Mandalore
(Corrections corner: Reader Richard wrote in to say: “Unless there's some weird maritime Mandalore boundary I'm unaware of, only Din Djarin follows the Mandalorian creed. Pretty sure the Fetts are not Mandalorians.” Our sincere apologies to the Fett family and the people of Mandalore.) (If you want to write in explaining that they are Mandalorian, we read all the articles and we are done thinking about it, thank you.)

2. What fictional witch, frequently depicted as an antagonist of King Arthur, also appears as a villain in both Marvel and DC comics?

Morgan le Fay
(however you want to spell it! She predates standardized English spellings)

3. In 2002, yodeler Wylie Gustafson settled a multi-million dollar lawsuit with what company, after they incorporated one of his yodels in their national brand campaign without his permission?

Yahoo

4. Cash Money Records was founded in the 1990s in Lil Wayne’s hometown. Name that Southern city!

New Orleans

5. Google’s motto used to be “Don’t be evil.” They changed it in 2015, and now it’s the same as the title of a 1989 movie that was nominated for “Best Original Screenplay.” What is Google’s current motto?

“Do the right thing”

Questions for
Theme Thursday, December 8, 2022

Swing Set: Five swingin’ questions.

Answers in tomorrow’s email.

1. What clarinetist, who led one of the country’s first integrated jazz groups in the 1930s, was nicknamed “The King of Swing”?

2. Speaking of jazz bands, Mark Knopfler, the lead singer and guitarist of the Dire Straits, once saw a good one playing for an unappreciative crowd in a nearly empty bar. He went home that night and wrote his first hit song, which he named after that band. What was it called?

3. The “Russian swing” is one of the first moves you learn when you pick up what piece of exercise equipment?

4. What song—written by a formerly enslaved person in what is now Oklahoma in the mid-1800s—is, for some reason, extremely popular among fans of the English national rugby team?

5. The website FiveThirtyEight identifies 11 U.S. states as being perennial “swing states.” Just one of them is in the Pacific Time Zone. Name it!

1: Count Basie Benny Goodman

2: Sultans of Swing

3. Kettlebells

5. I think it's Arizona

4. Swing Low, Sweet Chariot 

5. I’ll go with Nevada

Answers to Thursday, December 8, 2022

1. What clarinetist, who led one of the country’s first integrated jazz groups in the 1930s, was nicknamed “The King of Swing”?

Benny Goodman

2. Speaking of jazz bands, Mark Knopfler, the lead singer and guitarist of the Dire Straits, once saw a good one playing for an unappreciative crowd in a nearly empty bar. He went home that night and wrote his first hit song, which he named after that band. What was it called?

“The Sultans of Swing”

3. The “Russian swing” is one of the first moves you learn when you pick up what piece of exercise equipment?

Kettlebells

4. What song—written by a formerly enslaved person in what is now Oklahoma in the mid-1800s—is, for some reason, extremely popular among fans of the English national rugby team?

“Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”

5. The website FiveThirtyEight identifies 11 U.S. states as being perennial “swing states.” Just one of them is in the Pacific Time Zone. Name it!

Nevada

Questions for
Friday, December 9, 2022

Five questions to wake up your noodle. Answers in Monday’s email.

1. Quit While You’re Ahead: To attain a “triple-double” in basketball, a player must accumulate double digits in three of five statistical categories. Name as many of those five categories as you can for one point each. Zero points total if you get any wrong.

2. An “egg cream” doesn’t contain egg or cream. It contains milk, soda water, and what third ingredient?

3. Of all of the current U.S. states formed primarily from the Louisiana Purchase, which is the largest by area?

4. What are you watching if you are dancing along with such minor characters as Frieda, Shermy, Violet, a guy in an orange shirt named 5, and his twin sisters 3 and 4?

5. Today is December 9. On this day in 1996, a Canadian named Gwen Jacob was acquitted of the charge of “committing an indecent act,” giving Canadian women the right to do what?

4 - A Charlie Brown Christmas 

1. Points, Assists, Steals, Blocked Shots, ???

5. Breastfeed in public

5. I was going to guess watching a basketball game. ???

1. @mnnavy Rebounds is the 5th 

2. Chocolate syrup

3. Montana

Posted by: @mikeeruzione11

↑

1. @mnnavy Rebounds is the 5th 

Yeah, I figured that out shortly after I posted. Gonna sieve myself on that, because that was one of the things I excelled at when I played.

Answers to Friday, December 9, 2022

1. Quit While You’re Ahead: To attain a “triple-double” in basketball, a player must accumulate double-digits in three of five statistical categories. Name as many of those five categories as you can for one point each. Zero points total if you get any wrong.

Points, assists, rebounds, steals, blocks

2. An “egg cream” doesn’t contain egg or cream. It contains milk, soda water, and what third ingredient?

Chocolate syrup

3. Of all of the current U.S. states formed primarily from the Louisiana Purchase, which is the largest by area?

Montana

4. What are you watching if you are dancing along with such minor characters as Frieda, Shermy, Violet, a guy in an orange shirt named 5, and his twin sisters 3 and 4?

“A Charlie Brown Christmas”

5. Today is December 9. On this day in 1996, a Canadian named Gwen Jacob was acquitted of the charge of “committing an indecent act,” giving Canadian women the right to do what?

Be topless in public

Questions for
Monday, December 12, 2022

Five questions to wake up your noodle. Answers in tomorrow’s email.

1. Parsley comes in two varieties: curly and flat. Which of those varieties is also known as “Italian”?

2. Two countries in addition to the United States signed NAFTA in 1992. Name both.

3. How many ghosts and spirits visit Scrooge in “A Christmas Carol”?

4. One of the most requested reproductions from the U.S. National Archives is a photo of Richard Nixon shaking hands with what celebrity?

5. Authors Gabriel García Márquez, Alice Hoffman, Isabel Allende, and Haruki Murakami all published books that are categorized under what genre of fiction?

3. Four - Marley, Christmas Past, Christmas Present, and Christmas Yet to Come

4. Elvis

2: Canada, Mexico

1. Flat 

5) Magical Realism.  One Hundred Years of Solitude by Marquez is the only one of these authors I’ve read.  

Answers to Monday, December 12, 2022
1. Parsley comes in two varieties: curly and flat. Which of those varieties is also known as “Italian”?

Flat

2. Two countries in addition to the United States signed NAFTA in 1992. Name both.

Canada, Mexico

3. How many ghosts and spirits visit Scrooge in “A Christmas Carol”?

Four
(The Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come, plus Jacob Marley)

4. One of the most requested reproductions from the U.S. National Archives is a photo of Richard Nixon shaking hands with what celebrity?

Elvis

5. Authors Gabriel García Márquez, Alice Hoffman, Isabel Allende, and Haruki Murakami all published books that are categorized under what genre of fiction?

Magical realism

Questions for
Tuesday, December 13, 2022

Five questions to wake up your noodle. Answers in tomorrow’s email.

1. “White Magic” and “Snow Drift” were brands of fake snow used in Hollywood in the ’30s and ’40s, on such films as “The Wizard of Oz,” “White Christmas,” and many others. They were eventually taken off the market because they contained what mineral fiber?

2. Between 1839 and 1860, Britain and China fought a series of wars over what flower?

3. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the best-selling album of all time by a teenage recording artist came out in 1999. Who was that teenager?

4. In 1921, a Swiss psychoanalyst released a book called “Psychodiagnostik” featuring ten abstract graphics, which later inspired a comic book character. What is his last name?

5. What British street gang and TV show subject most likely got its name from a slang term for a well-dressed man wearing a style of flat cap that comes to a point at the top?

2 - Poppy  ??

1: Asbestos

2: Poppy (The Opium Wars)

1. Asbestos

2. Poppy

4) that would be Rorschach and his famous “ tell me what you see”. 
5) Peaky Blinders

3) Britney Spears?

Answers to Tuesday, December 13, 2022

1. “White Magic” and “Snow Drift” were brands of fake snow used in Hollywood in the ’30s and ’40s, on such films as “The Wizard of Oz,” “White Christmas,” and many others. They were eventually taken off the market because they contained what mineral fiber?

Asbestos

2. Between 1839 and 1860, Britain and China fought a series of wars over what flower?

Poppy
(opium)

3. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the best-selling album of all time by a teenage recording artist came out in 1999. Who was that teenager?

Britney Spears
(“…Baby One More Time”)

4. In 1921, a Swiss psychoanalyst released a book called “Psychodiagnostik” featuring ten abstract graphics, which later inspired a comic book character. What is his last name?

Rorschach

5. What British street gang and TV show subject most likely got its name from a slang term for a well-dressed man wearing a style of flat cap that comes to a point at the top?

Peaky Blinders
(a “peaky” is the hat; a “blinder” is a well-dressed man)

Questions for
Wednesday, December 14, 2022

Five questions to wake up your noodle. Answers in tomorrow’s email.

1. If someone tells you they’re from Jozi and grew up speaking Xhosa, they probably grew up in what city?

2. Natalie Babbitt, who passed away on Halloween night in 2016, was best known as the author of what 1975 children’s novel, about an immortal family in a town called Treegap?

3. What two-sport star’s appearance in the 1991 game “Tecmo Super Bowl” is regularly cited as the most overpowered sports video game characters of all time?

4. What Broadway musical, which won the Tony Award for “Best Musical” in 1957, gets its three-word title from the refrain of a nursery rhyme?

5. What is your “intergluteal cleft” better known as?

1 South Africa

3) Bo 'Football/Baseball' Jackson

One of the most sought after baseball cards back in 1990.  Everyone seemed to want it.